An Okinawa court has ordered the Japanese government to pay more than $10 million to people living near a U.S. air base as compensation for the noise from military jets. For decades, noise from U.S. aircraft has been part of the Japan-U.S. friction on Japan's southernmost island. On Friday, the Fukuoka High Court in Naha, Okinawa's capital, awarded the $10 million to 867 residents who live near Kadena Air Base, a court official said. The ruling came as Okinawa Gov....

An Okinawa court has ordered the Japanese government to pay more than $10 million to people living near a U.S. air base as compensation for the noise from military jets. For decades, noise from U.S. aircraft has been part of the Japan-U.S. friction on Japan's southernmost island. On Friday, the Fukuoka High Court in Naha, Okinawa's capital, awarded the $10 million to 867 residents who live near Kadena Air Base, a court official said. The ruling came as Okinawa Gov....

Japan Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto sued the governor of Okinawa Friday for refusing to force landowners on the southern island to renew their leases with the U.S. military. It was the third time the central government had sued Gov. Masahide Ota over the leases, which have become a focus of his campaign to scale down and eventually eliminate the American military presence there. The suit, filed in the Okinawan capital of Naha, seeks a court order requiring Ota to begin proceedings to renew the...

A backer of a proposed floating U.S. heliport off the coast of Okinawa narrowly won a mayoral election Sunday, providing a boost to supporters of an American military presence on the southern Japanese island. Takeo Kishimoto, who was endorsed by Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, told voters in the city of Nago that the heliport would help the depressed local economy. Kishimoto won 16,253 votes, 1,150 more than his main opponent, Yoshikazu Tamaki, who argued the base would...

Japan's government filed a lawsuit Thursday in an effort to force 35 Okinawan landowners who oppose the American troop presence to renew their leases with the U.S. military. Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama filed the suit against Okinawa Gov. Masahide Ota, an opponent of the 40 U.S. military sites on Japan's southern island. Ota had rejected a recommendation from Murayama that he order landowners to renew contracts. Thursday's lawsuit, which paves the way for Murayama to sign the...

The governor of Okinawa, Japan's southernmost island prefecture, announced Friday he is opposed to the construction of a U.S. offshore heliport. "Okinawa has decided not to accept the government's proposal," Masahide Ota said. Tokyo wants to build the offshore heliport in a remote location to replace a U.S. air base in an urban part of the island as part of a deal hammered out with Washington to reduce American military presence on Okinawa. In December, residents of Nago, the...

The governor of Okinawa, Japan's southernmost island prefecture, announced Friday he is opposed to the construction of a U.S. offshore heliport. "Okinawa has decided not to accept the government's proposal," Masahide Ota said. Tokyo wants to build the offshore heliport in a remote location to replace a U.S. air base in an urban part of the island as part of a deal hammered out with Washington to reduce American military presence on Okinawa. In December, residents of Nago, the...

A dispute over America's military presence on Okinawa that disrupted the U.S.-Japan security alliance for a year appeared to dissolve Friday as Okinawa's governor dropped his opposition. The decision by Gov. Masahide Ota to stop protesting the renewal of land leases to the U.S. military signaled the likely end of an emotional confrontation with the Japanese government. Ota's move ends the threat that U.S. forces might be forced to significantly reduce their presence on the island, or even...

The governor of Okinawa has proposed dismantling all U.S. military bases on the southern Japanese island by the year 2015, news reports said Sunday. Gov. Masahide Ota's proposal is the latest to develop from Okinawans' rage over the rape of a 12-year-old schoolgirl in September. Three U.S. servicemen have been charged in the case. Under Ota's plan, all U.S. military bases in Okinawa would be dismantled by 2015 and the island would be transformed into an...

Residents of Okinawa on Sunday showed their disdain for the American military presence on the Japanese island by voting overwhelmingly in favor of reducing the number of U.S. bases. The vote was symbolic--a non-binding referendum devised by the Okinawan government--but adds momentum to the political movement on the island that is pushing to see the U.S. military leave by 2015. The question of how to balance Okinawa's demands against the need of Japan and the United States to maintain a...

A backer of a proposed floating U.S. heliport off the coast of Okinawa narrowly won a mayoral election Sunday, providing a boost to supporters of an American military presence on the southern Japanese island. Takeo Kishimoto, who was endorsed by Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, told voters in the city of Nago that the heliport would help the depressed local economy. Kishimoto won 16,253 votes, 1,150 more than his main opponent, Yoshikazu Tamaki, who argued the base would...

Japan Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto sued the governor of Okinawa Friday for refusing to force landowners on the southern island to renew their leases with the U.S. military. It was the third time the central government had sued Gov. Masahide Ota over the leases, which have become a focus of his campaign to scale down and eventually eliminate the American military presence there. The suit, filed in the Okinawan capital of Naha, seeks a court order requiring Ota to begin proceedings to renew the...

Residents of Okinawa on Sunday showed their disdain for the American military presence on the Japanese island by voting overwhelmingly in favor of reducing the number of U.S. bases. The vote was symbolic--a non-binding referendum devised by the Okinawan government--but adds momentum to the political movement on the island that is pushing to see the U.S. military leave by 2015. The question of how to balance Okinawa's demands against the need of Japan and the United States to maintain a...

Moving to end a controversy days before President Clinton arrives on a state visit, the U.S. and Japan agreed Friday to close a U.S. military airfield on Okinawa within five to seven years. For months the two nations had been looking for ways to end a protest movement on Okinawa by reducing the concentrated U.S. military presence on the Japanese island and returning land to Okinawans. The decision to close Futenma Air Base was a surprise because it had been considered...

Moving to end a controversy days before President Clinton arrives on a state visit, the U.S. and Japan agreed Friday to close a U.S. military airfield on Okinawa within five to seven years. For months the two nations had been looking for ways to end a protest movement on Okinawa by reducing the concentrated U.S. military presence on the Japanese island and returning land to Okinawans. The decision to close Futenma Air Base was a surprise because it had been considered...

Japan's government filed a lawsuit Thursday in an effort to force 35 Okinawan landowners who oppose the American troop presence to renew their leases with the U.S. military. Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama filed the suit against Okinawa Gov. Masahide Ota, an opponent of the 40 U.S. military sites on Japan's southern island. Ota had rejected a recommendation from Murayama that he order landowners to renew contracts. Thursday's lawsuit, which paves the way for Murayama to sign the...

A dispute over America's military presence on Okinawa that disrupted the U.S.-Japan security alliance for a year appeared to dissolve Friday as Okinawa's governor dropped his opposition. The decision by Gov. Masahide Ota to stop protesting the renewal of land leases to the U.S. military signaled the likely end of an emotional confrontation with the Japanese government. Ota's move ends the threat that U.S. forces might be forced to significantly reduce their presence on the island, or even...

The governor of Okinawa has proposed dismantling all U.S. military bases on the southern Japanese island by the year 2015, news reports said Sunday. Gov. Masahide Ota's proposal is the latest to develop from Okinawans' rage over the rape of a 12-year-old schoolgirl in September. Three U.S. servicemen have been charged in the case. Under Ota's plan, all U.S. military bases in Okinawa would be dismantled by 2015 and the island would be transformed into an...

To understand President Harry Truman's decision to use atomic bombs against Japan, one must understand what happened here between April and June, 1945, when more people died in the battle for Okinawa than in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. At Okinawa, the Japanese unleashed their ultimate plan for defending the mainland: They would sacrifice every man, woman and child before giving in to what at that point had become inevitable - Japan's defeat in the war. Hundreds of...

To understand President Harry Truman's decision to use atomic bombs against Japan, one must understand what happened here between April and June, 1945, when more people died in the battle for Okinawa than in Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. At Okinawa, the Japanese unleashed their ultimate plan for defending the mainland: They would sacrifice every man, woman and child before giving in to what at that point had become inevitable - Japan's defeat in the war. Hundreds of...